Regulations that would restrict wastewater discharges from drilling operations in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale area to a more stringent 500 milligrams per liter (mg/l) standard, while other new and expanded facilities in general use would be allowed discharges up to a threshold of 2,000 mg/l, may be on a fast track to approval.

The rules, which would require drinking water standard for drilling wastewater emissions at the pipe, were approved last week by Pennsylvania’s Independent Regulator Review Commission (IRRC) (see Daily GPI, June 18). The regulations were previously approved by the state’s Environmental Quality Board (see Daily GPI, May 18).

The Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, which has until July 1 — 14 days from the IRRC vote — to reject the regulations, has scheduled no vote on the issue, according to Patrick Henderson, spokesman for committee chairperson Mary Jo White (R-21st).

“I do not anticipate any hearings,” Henderson told NGI. “Sen. White will be determining the next course of action, if any, regarding the regulations, including consulting with members of the committee. If the regulations do proceed, there are other alternatives to address some identified shortcomings in the regulation — via legislation.”

Assuming the committee does not vote down the regulations, they would proceed to Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett’s office for review.

“We don’t have any constitutional authority to voice an opinion on the policy,” Corbett spokesman Nils Frederiksen told NGI. “Those types of matters, along with other state contracts and things like that, come to our office for form and legality review, and constitutionally our review is limited to just that, not a review in terms of an opinion by this office or an endorsement by this office.”

If the wastewater regulations go to the attorney general’s office, the case would be assigned to an attorney in the office’s review and advice section, Frederiksen said. “Typically, there’s a 30-day timetable to turn those things around. If there are issues, we’ll flag those. If there are no issues, we’ll return it to the agency that submitted it to us.”

At that point the rules would be eligible to be published in the PA Bulletin — and regulations are finalized once they are published, Henderson said.

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